


We Were Living on Borrowed Time

by smaragdbird



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Established Relationship, Love Confessions, M/M, Missing Scene, saying their goodbyes while they can
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 04:13:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9475190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/pseuds/smaragdbird
Summary: Cassian and K-2SO know that the attack on Scarif is a suicide mission. They know the chances of one of them making it out alive is slim and for both of them they're next to nothing.So they say their goodbyes to each other before they leave for Scarif. For once they leave nothing unsaid, for once they touch each other with all the affection they always held back. Because they know they have only a few hours left to live. Because they know this is their last chance.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this ](http://rogueonekink.dreamwidth.org/1084.html?thread=176956#cmt176956) prompt

“Sit down”, Cassian said when he had led K-2SO to one of the upper temple rooms that had been declared unfit for storage. One of the walls had caved in and let daylight into the room.

K-2SO wasn’t exactly built for sitting down on the floor but he trusted Cassian and he knew that Cassian wouldn’t waste their last few moments alone together with a trivial request.

Once he was seated Cassian climbed onto his lap, one leg on each side and wrapped his arms around K-2SO’s neck. They had been in this position before but usually on a bed or on their ship, light years away from anyone else.

“What do you think are our chances?”

Cassian had barely ever asked him that question. Usually K-2SO gave the odds of any given situation unprompted and usually Cassian ignored them. “Do you really want the truth?”

“No, I don’t”, Cassian gave him a wan smile. “Could you lie to me for once?”

K-2SO tilted his head slightly. “We’ll get the plans. The empire won’t even notice we were ever there. Then we’ll destroy the death star and topple the Empire.”

Cassian laughed tearfully. “You’re a horrible liar.”

“Why are you doing this Cassian?” K-2SO asked because this was too drawn out, too indulgent, where they'd always dealt with efficiency, quick and silent before Cassian could think too hard about it; where even in the privacy of Cassian's windowless bed room, they'd always been afraid of being caught.

“We’re going to die and there are things I…I don’t want to die not having said them.”

Five years ago when Cassian had reprogrammed him K-2SO had calculated the chance that Cassian would survive the next 20 missions at 23%. Instead together they had made it through 128 missions including a long term undercover mission at the heart of the Imperial navy. 

But now on their 129th mission their luck had finally run out. He and Cassian would die. There was no conceivable way they would make it out of Scarif alive. K-2SO didn’t want to die. He didn’t want Cassian to die.

K-2SO cradled Cassian’s head in his hands and leaned their foreheads together. Even before he had been reprogrammed he had considered organics to be strangely vulnerable, fragile creatures. He could kill Cassian now by just adding a little bit more pressure to his grip. And yet at the same time he would never do it. Not because someone programmed him not to but because he didn’t want to. He had a choice, Cassian had given him a choice, and that made him truly free, made him truly an individual. 

“Tell me”, K-2SO said because organics had such a nice simple word that wrapped up all those emotions he was feeling.

“I love you.” It had only taken 5 years and certain death for him to say it.

“I love you too”, K-2SO said. “Obviously.” A part of him wanted to go through his memories and find the exact moment where it had all gone wrong. How they had ended up here when the future was right there before them. If their mission was a success and K-2SO had to believe it would be because otherwise sacrificing Cassian’s life would be unbearable, then they would be one huge step closer to the goal Cassian had been fighting for his entire life.

Cassian buried his face in K-2SO’s neck and K-2SO did nothing but hold him close, held him through the sobs shaking his body. Five years hadn’t been enough. Nothing would be enough, nothing short of a lifetime. 

“Cassian”, K-2SO said, stroking his hair. He liked how it felt, liked the feeling of the strands slipping through his fingers. He splayed his other hand across the small of Cassian’s back underneath his shirt. He also liked the texture of Cassian’s skin, liked to feel the muscles shift, liked to feel him move when he breathed. “Lie to me.”

Cassian moved slightly away from him so he could lean their foreheads together. The last time K-2SO had seen Cassian’s face tearstained he had offered the memory of it to be wiped and Cassian had refused. Now he almost wanted to ask for one just so that Cassian’s death would be bearable. In any case K-2SO hoped he’d die first. Ideally they would die together but if they didn’t K-2SO was selfish enough to hope that he wouldn’t have to live in a world without Cassian in it, no matter how short that time would be.

“We’ll make it to Scarif undetected”, Cassian said, his voice wavering. “Bodhi will get us in. You, me and Jyn, we’ll pose as Imperials while the others will cause a distraction. We’ll find the plans and we’ll walk out with them without anyone stopping us. Then we’ll destroy the Death Star. The whole galaxy will rise up against the Empire. It’ll fall and we’ll...” Cassian took a deep shuddering breath, “we’ll...build a better one, a system that is not as corrupt as the Old Republic or as tyrannical as the Empire.”

“And we’ll live happily ever after?” K-2SO asked but couldn’t bring himself to sound sarcastic. He didn’t know what he sounded like at all.

“Yeah”, Cassian gave him a broken smile. “What are the odds for that?”

“Not very high”, K-2SO replied, “but then neither was us making it through 128 missions. What do I know?”

Time was moving abnormally fast. They should’ve been out of here by now or people would come looking for them. K-2SO didn’t want to share this moment with anyone else and yet he held Cassian close, drawing out every possible second.

“We should go”, Cassian said eventually but without moving. 

“The others will be waiting for us”, K-2SO agreed. 

One more second, he told himself. 

Just one more.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me [ here](http://smaragdbird.tumblr.com/) on tumblr


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